Social Welfare Commons^™

Focal Point, Volume 21 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This Focal Point issue focuses on child traumatic stress, particularly as experienced by children involved in the child welfare system. The causes and effects of traumatic stress are discussed, as are evidence-based treatments, and prevention strategies.

The Meaning Of Poverty: Questions Of Distribution And Power, Arthur Macewan

Economics Faculty Publication Series

Focusing on the low-income parts of the world and reviewing the different ways we can define poverty, I first argue that what people generally mean by poverty – or, more broadly, by economic well-being – cannot be adequately captured by a single, absolute measure such as income level or a more complex aggregate such as the Human Development Index. Not only do these measures fail to account for the complexity of human material needs, but they also fail to recognize the importance of distributional issues. The failure to incorporate a consideration of distribution in defining poverty (or, more generally, economic …

Economic Growth And The Interests Of Future (And Past And Present) Generations: A Comment On Tyler Cowen, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Realistic Possibilities Of Passing Interest [Photo Essay], Nancy Viva Davis Halifax, Fred Yurichuk

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This reflection on a series of photographs from the exhibition URGENT gathered by members from "A day in the life photography and story collective" begins to examine the way social structures are implicated in the lives of those who are living in poverty and how their lives can be rendered visible. Through our work in communities with people who are experiencing homelessness and insecure housing we consider the role of photography in picturing and subjecting communities to a gaze that has the potential to be empathic and engaged or uncaring and disengaged.

Preparing For The Future: An Evaluation Of Alternative Methods For Estimating The Needed Capacity Of Nursing Home Beds In Kentucky, Michelle D. Woods

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Due to the aging of the generation known as “Baby Boomers”, the nation is expected to witness extraordinary growth in the total population ages 65 and over. Population projections provided by the United States Bureau of the Census suggest that this segment of the population will double in size to 72 million by the year 2030. In order to prepare for the anticipated increase elderly Americans, policy officials have been analyzing the potential effects on the nation’s long-term care system. Although Baby Boomers can expect to live longer than their predecessors, as they age, it is predicted that this generation …

The Flood: Political Economy And Disaster, Mari J. Matsuda

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

As summer faded to fall in 2005, a hurricane hit New Orleans, a city so unique in its history that it has more history than many American cities. It was nonetheless an American city in these telling parameters: a city of luxury alongside squalor, two-thirds Black, one-fourth poor, with the gap between its rich and poor growing at a gallop as the waters of lake and river lapped gently along aging, grass-covered levees.

Freeze the frame before the waters rise, and what do you see? A devastated public school system, where Black children are labeled “failing,” along with their schools. …

Evaluating The Implementation Of The Kentucky Drug Endangered Children Training Network, Ramona Gabbard

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In late 2004 the Kentucky Drug Endangered Children Alliance was created to bring attention to the methamphetamine problem in Kentucky and coordinate the efforts of many different agencies. The Training Network is part of the Alliance and seeks to educate the various service providers that may come into contact with the child victims of caregiver meth abuse and production. The Training Network estimates it has provided training to almost ten thousand individuals in the three years it has been at work.

My evaluation of the implementation of this training effort focused on the type and number of participants and whether …

“Practicing In Slow Motion”: The Development And Assessment Of An Interprofessional Clinical Education Curriculum For Law And Social Work Students, Lyn K. Slater

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Interprofessional and interagency collaboration are currently considered to be essential features of professional practice for the provision of effective health, education and human services. Most major professional organizations have now acknowledged the importance of working collaboratively with other professions and have advocated that education programs prepare students to collaborate across professions through the development of interprofessional education programs. At this time there is little evidence to show that when professionals learn together that this enables them, in practice and in the future, to work more collaboratively to achieve client goals.

There is a gap in the current evaluation literature that …